4.0056 Glom and Doddle (1); Nerds (7). (98)

Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Wed, 16 May 90 16:57:00 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 0056. Wednesday, 16 May 1990.


(1) Date: Tue, 15 May 90 23:31 GMT (10 lines)
From: ANNA MORPURGO DAVIES
Subject: RE: 4.0048 Etymologies of 'Glom' and 'Doddle'

(2) Date: 15 May 1990, 18:43:13 EDT (9 lines)
From: FLANNAGA at OUACCVMB
Subject: nerds in American lit.

(3) Date: Tuesday, 15 May 1990 18:54:40 EDT (6 lines)
From: "Patrick W. Conner" <U47C2@WVNVM>
Subject: nerds [eds]

(4) Date: Tuesday, 15 May 1990 18:53:10 EDT (21 lines)
From: "Patrick W. Conner" <U47C2@WVNVM>
Subject: nerds [eds]

(5) Date: Tue, 15 May 90 20:28:47 -0400 (18 lines)
From: amsler@flash.bellcore.com (Robert A Amsler)
Subject: Nerds

(6) Date: Wed, 16 May 90 09:41 EDT (10 lines)
From: "Ed. Harris, Academic Affairs, SCSU" <HARRIS@CTSTATEU>
Subject: Nerds

(7) Date: Wed, 16 May 90 13:55 EST (13 lines)
From: "Peter D. Junger" <JUNGER@CWRU>
Subject: Nerds in literature

(8) Date: Wed, 16 May 90 08:49:58 CDT (11 lines)
From: GA0708@SIUCVMB
Subject: nerds in American lit.

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 15 May 90 23:31 GMT
From: ANNA MORPURGO DAVIES
Subject: RE: 4.0048 Etymologies of 'Glom' and 'Doddle' (116)

It is odd that so far noone has quoted the OED supplement for GLOM and
DODDLE. The latter is labelled 'colloquial' and glossed 'something that
is easy or requires little effort; a 'walk-over'. First evidence 1937.
The former is labelled U.S. slang and glossed 'to steal, to grab,
snatch'. First evidence 1907 (Jack London).
Anna
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------14----
Date: 15 May 1990, 18:43:13 EDT
From: FLANNAGA at OUACCVMB
Subject: nerds in American lit.

Surely Holden Caulfield in _The Catcher in the Rye_ is something like
the classic American nerd, though one could make an argument for Tom
Sawyer. Roy Flannagan (Incidentally, I think Buddy Holly gave the look
to nerdism, and a nerd is usually classified by former athletes as
"someone I should have beat up on the playground, if I didn't.")
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------14----
Date: Tuesday, 15 May 1990 18:54:40 EDT
From: "Patrick W. Conner" <U47C2@WVNVM>
Subject: 4.0055 General Notes and Queries (29)

By the way, Ichabod Crade in Washington Irving's Legend of Sleepy Hollow
is the earliest nerd I know of. (Crane; that's CRANE)
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------28----
Date: Tuesday, 15 May 1990 18:53:10 EDT
From: "Patrick W. Conner" <U47C2@WVNVM>
Subject: 4.0055 General Notes and Queries (29)

I think that the word NERD was coined for the TV show HAPPY DAYS. The
show was set in American High School culture of the 1950's (although it
played in the 70's & 80's) and the local hoodlum, Fonzi, called
individuals who weren't COOL, NERDS. I remember the fifties, and I
remember the Fonzis of the period, and they did not have hearts of gold,
like the fellow on TV, nor did they refer to people they didn't like as
NERD, although they might have used a rhyming word. But what they might
have said couldn't be used in a family-based TV sitcom, so NERD was
coined. Or, at least, I've always thought that was it. The word
narrowed from a general one meaning UNCOOL which was associated with
bookishness (one of many ways to be uncool) to a term for a studious
person with no concern for style and fashion to someone devoted to
computers, it seems. I don't think the word was used in the movie
AMERICAN GRAFITTI, from which HAPPY DAYS comes, but it may have been.
As I say, this is all guesswork.

--Pat Conner
(5) --------------------------------------------------------------30----
Date: Tue, 15 May 90 20:28:47 -0400
From: amsler@flash.bellcore.com (Robert A Amsler)
Subject: Nerds

Interestingly enough, the OED2 cites Dr. Seuss as the earliest
occurrence of `nerd', i.e. the 1950 quote from `If I ran Zoo' is ``And
then, just to show them, I'll sail to Ka-Troo and Bring Back an
It-Kutch, a Preep and a Proo, a Nerkle, a Nerd, and a Seersucker, too!''
The origin of the term is alternatively also seen as possibly being a
variant on `turd' (in a commentary that looks far too unsupportable).
The person was deemed to be someone insignificant or contemptable who
was conventional, affected or studious. Noplace does the entry doesn't
mention computers.

Gosh... maybe Preppie or Geek came from Preep too? Has Dr. Seuss been
instrumental in directing U.S. Slang to other categories of people we
find socially annoying? (Geek is thought to be U.S. carnival slang, so
this is basically a bit of whimsy).
(6) --------------------------------------------------------------17----
Date: Wed, 16 May 90 09:41 EDT
From: "Ed. Harris, Academic Affairs, SCSU" <HARRIS@CTSTATEU>
Subject: Nerds

Although he's not very early, how about Thurber's Walter Mitty?

Ed <HARRIS@CTSTATEU.BITNET>
Southern Connecticut State U, New Haven, CT 06515 USA
Tel: 1 (203) 397-4322 / Fax: 1 (203) 397-4207

(7) --------------------------------------------------------------19----
Date: Wed, 16 May 90 13:55 EST
From: "Peter D. Junger" <JUNGER@CWRU>
Subject: Nerds in literature

I cannot think of any nerds in American literature, but surely (I may
not be spelling the name correctly) Widmerpoole in Powell's A Dance to
the Music of Time is an archetypical nerd. Perhaps it might be well to
suggest to Danish Colleagues that the fact that no one in Denmark today
would name a child So/ren has something to do with the perception that
Kirkegaard--the man, not the writer--was rather a nerd: what was the
name of his unfortunate girlfriend?

Peter D. Junger--CWRU Law School--Cleveland, Ohio
(8) --------------------------------------------------------------16----
Date: Wed, 16 May 90 08:49:58 CDT
From: GA0708@SIUCVMB
Subject: nerds in American lit.

A quick response to Janus on nerds in American literature. I am sure as
the day wears on I will think of many but Melville's Bartleby comes
immediately to mind. "Tertan, Ferdinand R." from Trilling's "Of This
Time, Of That Place" also has to be a prime candidate. The pursuit of
nerds through literature sounds like fun. Searching for a lost
identity, Janus? Good luck from an erstwhile nerd. Herb Donow
Southern Illinois University